You are here

Faculty Hires in 2016

Submitted on May 9, 2016 - 6:28pm

The School of Art + Art History + Design is pleased to announce that we have hired two tenure-track faculty who will begin their teaching during the 2016–2017 academic year. These positions represent the continuation of a long-term legacy in our Division of Art History and the expansion of an important area in our Division of Design.

Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Art HistoryShe has been hired into a position shared with the Burke Museum. Bunn-Marcuse will hold the titles of Assistant Professor in Art History, Curator of Northwest Native American Art, and Director of the Bill Holm Center. She received her MA and PhD from the School of Art + Art History + Design in 1998 and 2007 respectively. Since finishing her PhD, Bunn-Marcuse has taught courses at the University of Washington for the Division of Art History and in the Department of American Indian Studies. She became Managing Editor for Bill Holm Center publications in 2008 and added the title of Assistant Director of the Bill Holm Center in 2010; she was promoted to Associate Director in 2015. Her publications focus on the indigenization of Euro-American imagery, nineteenth-century Northwest Coast jewelry and other body adornment, and the filmic history of the Kwakwaka’wakw. Bunn-Marcuse curated Here & Now: Native Artists Inspired, which showcased new Northwest Coast artworks that were inspired by historical pieces in the Burke Museum’s collection. Read the Burke Museum's blog post about her appointment.

Audrey Desjardins, Interaction DesignShe is about to complete her PhD at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Interaction Design. Desjardins holds an MA from the same program, received in 2012, and a 2009 bachelor's degree in Industrial Design from Université de Montréal. She has been working as a researcher in the Everyday Design Studio at SFU since 2010, and she has been assistant to the editors-in-chief of ACM Interactions magazine since 2012. Desjardins' research interests focus on non-expert design, do-it-yourself and Maker cultures, technologies for the home, Internet of Things, design methods, design fiction, sustainability, and emergency collaborative situations. Her master's thesis is titled "Everyday Design: Comparing Families, Hobbyist Jewellers, and Steampunk Enthusiasts," and her dissertation is titled "Design-within-living: Exploring the qualities of living in a prototype." Desjardins has already co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers as well as two refereed book chapters.

In a July 7 press release, the School announced the two new tenure-track faculty above as well as five full-time Lecturers who will teach during the 2016–2017 academic year. They are:

Claire Cowie, Interdisciplinary Visual Arts She received a BFA in Printmaking from Washington University, St. Louis (1997), and an MFA in Printmaking from the School of Art + Art History + Design at the University of Washington (1999). Cowie is represented by James Harris Gallery and Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Awards include a Pollock-Krasner Grant and fellowships from Washington State Arts Commission, Artist Trust, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and the Behnke Foundation. Collections include Twitter, Allen Institute for Brain Science, Henry Art Gallery, Microsoft Corporation, Swedish Cancer Institute, Tacoma Art Museum, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Reviews have appeared in Art in America, Artforum, Artweek, and the Los Angeles Times. Cowie's paintings and sculptures address ambiguities in perception, shifting landscapes, and fragmentation of memory and time.

Morten Steen Hansen, Art HistoryHe received a PhD in art history from Johns Hopkins University. Since then, he has taught at the University of Copenhagen and at Stanford University, and he has worked at art museums in Copenhagen and Baltimore. Hansen has held fellowships at the Villa I Tatti — the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence, Italy — and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. His research deals with art of Early Modern Europe. Hansen has published on such topics as imitation and irony in Italian Mannerism, cults around miraculous images, the pictorial construction of social identities involving representations for and of ethnic-religious minorities, word/image relationships, and Ludovico Ariosto and the pictorial arts.

JT Milhoan, Industrial DesignHe is fascinated with how we relate to — and interact with — our world. Milhoan received a BSID in Product Design from The Ohio State University. He created early virtual reality products and experiences at a startup before joining Microsoft. Since receiving an MFA in Industrial Design and the de Cillia Teaching with Excellence Award in 2009 (from the Division of Design and the School of Art + Art History + Design, respectively), Milhoan has taught at Seattle Pacific University and in the School of Art + Art History + Design while working as a product design and development consultant for a variety of clients.

Dan Paz, Interdisciplinary Visual ArtsA visual artist whose work and teaching explores the labor of lens-based production as a collaborative site where the intersections of the image-idea and lived experience are produced and contested. Paz received her BFA from The Atlanta College of Art and her MFA in Visual Arts/Interdisciplinary Studies in Art Theory and Practice from The University of Chicago. Paz's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, among them Fábrica de Arte Cubano in Havana, Hayward Gallery in London, NYC Media lab, and at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center and Museum of Contemporary Art. Her project Arte No es Fácil received The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Connection grant in addition to support from The Open Practice Committee and University of Chicago Arts grant. Paz’s new work has been developed at many residencies including The Studios of Key West Artist Residency; Chicago Artist Coalitions’ Hatch Residency; The Luminary in St. Louis, MO; ACRE Artist Residency in Wisconsin; and 8550 in Ohio.

Kate Roberts, 3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculptureShe is a native of Greenville, SC. Roberts received both her MFA and BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2015 and 2010 respectively. She has completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Art in Helena, MT; Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO; and Le Cite International des Arts in Paris. Prior to accepting the position at University of Washington, she was Lecturer of Ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.